More than one in four Australian businesses had a social media presence as at 30 June 2013, up from one in five the previous year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

"Although the proportion of businesses with a social media presence had the greatest growth since our last survey, most key indicators of business use of information technology have increased", said Sue-Ellen Luke from the ABS.

"For example, survey results show that nearly a third of Australian businesses received orders via the internet during 2012-13. These orders were worth close to $250 billion, which is an increase of almost $10 billion from the year before," added Ms Luke.

Also included in the release is information about how Australian businesses are innovating; overall, in 2012-13, 42 per cent of businesses undertook innovative activity.

"In line with previous results, large businesses are more than twice as likely to have undertaken some form of innovation - such as introducing new or improved goods or services, or improving operational processes - than small businesses," said Ms Luke.

More detailed information about innovation in Australian business will be released in August.

Media Notes:

The ABS classifies large businesses as businesses with 200 or more persons employed.

Innovation-active businesses are those that undertook any innovative activity during the reference period. This includes businesses that introduced or abandoned any of the four types of innovation during the period, and those that had any of the types of innovation still in development at the end of the period.

When reporting ABS data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.

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